Basic english grammar teacher book 3rd edition

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BASIC

ENGLISH
GRAMMAR
Third Edition
TEACHER’S GUIDE

Betty Schrampfer Azar
Stacy A. Hagen


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Basic English Grammar, Third Edition
Teacher's Guide
Copyright © 2006, 1997, 1984 by Betty Schrampfer Azar
All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Pearson Education, 10 Bank Street, White Plains, NY 10606
Staff credits: The people who made up the Basic English Grammar
Teacher's Guide, Third Edition team, representing editorial, production,
design, and manufacturing, are Nancy Flaggman, Margo Grant, Melissa
Leyva, Robert Ruvo, and Pat Wosczyk.
Azar Associates
Shelley Hartle, Editor
Susan Van Etten, Manager
Text design and composition: Carlisle Publishing Services
Text font: 10.5/12 Plantin
LONGMAN ON THE WEB
Longman.com offers online resources for
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ISBN: 0-13-184929-8
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10-BAH-11 10 09 08 07 06


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Contents

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
General Aims of Basic English Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Suggestions for the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

Presenting the Grammar Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Additional Suggestions for Using the Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
The Here-and-Now Classroom Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Demonstration Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Using the Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Oral Exercises with Chart Presentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
The Role of Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Balancing Teacher and Student Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Exercise Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Preview Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
First Exercise after a Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Written Exercises: General Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Open-Ended Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Paragraph Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Error-Analysis Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
“Let’s Talk” Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvi
Pairwork Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Small Group Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Class Activity Exercises (teacher-led) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Listening Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Pronunciation Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Games and Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Monitoring Errors in Oral Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Homework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
The Workbook As Independent Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Supplementary Resource Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Notes on American vs. British English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx

Differences in Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Differences in Spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xx
Differences in Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Key to Pronunciation Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii

The Phonetic Alphabet (Symbols for American English) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii
Consonants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii
Vowels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxii

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Chapter 1

USING BE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1-1
1-2
1-3
1-4
1-5
1-6
1-7
1-8

Noun ϩ is ϩ noun: singular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Noun ϩ are ϩ noun: plural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Pronoun ϩ be ϩ noun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Contractions with be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Negative with be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Be ϩ adjective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Be ϩ a place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Summary: basic sentence patterns with be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Chapter 2

USING BE AND HAVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

2-1
2-2
2-3
2-4
2-5

2-6
2-7
2-8

Yes/no questions with be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Short answers to yes/no questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Questions with be: using where . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Using have and has . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using my, your, his, her, our, their . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Using this and that . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Using these and those . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Asking questions with what and who ϩ be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 3

USING THE SIMPLE PRESENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

3-1
3-2
3-3
3-4
3-5
3-6
3-7
3-8
3-9
3-10
3-11
3-12
3-13

Form and basic meaning of the simple present tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using frequency adverbs: always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom,
rarely, never . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Other frequency expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Using frequency adverbs with be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Spelling and pronunciation of final -es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Adding final -s/-es to words that end in -y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Irregular singular verbs: has, does, goes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Spelling and pronunciation of final -s/-es . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The simple present: negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
The simple present: yes/no questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The simple present: asking information questions with where . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The simple present: asking information questions with when and what time . . . . . 32
Summary: information questions with be and do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Chapter 4

USING THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4-1
4-2
4-3
4-4
4-5
4-6
4-7
4-8

Be ϩ -ing: the present progressive tense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Spelling of -ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
The present progressive: negatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
The present progressive: questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
The simple present vs. the present progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Nonaction verbs not used in the present progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
See, look at, watch, hear, and listen to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Think about and think that . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Chapter 5

TALKING ABOUT THE PRESENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5-1
5-2
5-3
5-4
5-5
5-6
5-7

Using it to talk about time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Prepositions of time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Using it to talk about the weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
There ϩ be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
There ϩ be: yes/no questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
There ϩ be: asking questions with how many . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Prepositions of place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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5-8
5-9
5-10
5-11

Some prepositions of place: a list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Need and want ϩ a noun or an infinitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Would like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Would like vs. like . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Chapter 6

NOUNS AND PRONOUNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

6-1
6-2
6-3
6-4
6-5

Nouns: subjects and objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Adjective ϩ noun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Subject pronouns and object pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Nouns: singular and plural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Nouns: irregular plural forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Chapter 7

COUNT AND NONCOUNT NOUNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

7-1
7-2
7-3
7-4
7-5
7-6
7-7
7-8

Nouns: count and noncount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Using an vs. a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Using a/an vs. some . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Measurements with noncount nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Using many, much, a few, a little . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Using the . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Using Ø (no article) to make generalizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Using some and any . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Chapter 8

EXPRESSING PAST TIME, PART 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

8-1
8-2
8-3
8-4
8-5
8-6
8-7
8-8
8-9
8-10
8-11

Using be: past time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Past of be: negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Past of be: questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The simple past tense: using -ed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Past time words: yesterday, last, and ago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The simple past: irregular verbs (Group 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
The simple past: negative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The simple past: yes/no questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Irregular verbs (Group 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Irregular verbs (Group 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Irregular verbs (Group 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Chapter 9

EXPRESSING PAST TIME, PART 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

9-1

9-2
9-3
9-4
9-5
9-6
9-7
9-8
9-9
9-10
9-11
9-12

The simple past: using where, when, what time, and why . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Questions with what . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Questions with who . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Irregular verbs (Group 5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Irregular verbs (Group 6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Irregular verbs (Group 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Before and after in time clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
When in time clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The present progressive and the past progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Using while with the past progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
While vs. when in past time clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Simple past vs. past progressive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Chapter 10

EXPRESSING FUTURE TIME, PART 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

10-1

10-2
10-3
10-4

Future time: using be going to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Using the present progressive to express future time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Words used for past time and future time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Using a couple of or a few with ago (past) and in (future) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

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10-6
10-7
10-8
10-9

Using today, tonight, and this ϩ morning, afternoon, evening, week,
month, year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Future time: using will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Asking questions with will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Verb summary: present, past, and future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Verb summary: forms of be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Chapter 11

EXPRESSING FUTURE TIME, PART 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

11-1
11-2
11-3
11-4
11-5
11-6

May/Might vs. will . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Maybe (one word) vs. may be (two words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Future time clauses with before, after, and when . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Clauses with if . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Expressing habitual present with time clauses and if-clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Using what ϩ a form of do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Chapter 12

MODALS, PART 1: EXPRESSING ABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

12-1
12-2
12-3
12-4
12-5
12-6

12-7
12-8
12-9

Using can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Pronunciation of can and can’t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Using can: questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Using know how to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Using could: past of can . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Using be able to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Using very and too ϩ adjective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Using two, too, and to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
More about prepositions: at and in for place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Chapter 13

MODALS, PART 2: ADVICE, NECESSITY, REQUESTS, SUGGESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . 143

13-1
13-2
13-3
13-4
13-5
13-6
13-7
13-8
13-9

Using should . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Using have ϩ infinitive ( have to/has to) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Using must . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Polite questions: may I, could I, and can I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Polite questions: could you and would you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Imperative sentences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Modal auxiliaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Summary chart: modal auxiliaries and similar expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Using let’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Chapter 14

NOUNS AND MODIFIERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

14-1
14-2
14-3
14-4
14-5
14-6
14-7
14-8
14-9
14-10

Modifying nouns with adjectives and nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Word order of adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Expressions of quantity: all of, most of, some of, almost all of . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Expressions of quantity: subject-verb agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Expressions of quantity: one of, none of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Indefinite pronouns: nothing and no one . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Indefinite pronouns: something, someone, anything, anyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Using every . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Linking verbs ϩ adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Adjectives and adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Chapter 15

POSSESSIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

15-1
15-2
15-3
15-4

Possessive nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Possessive: irregular plural nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Questions with whose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

10-5

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Chapter 16

MAKING COMPARISONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

16-1
16-2
16-3
16-4
16-5
16-6
16-7
16-8

Comparisons: using the same (as), similar (to) and different ( from) . . . . . . . 169
Comparisons: using like and alike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
The comparative: using -er and more . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
The superlative: using -est and most . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Using one of ϩ superlative ϩ plural noun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Using but . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Using verbs after but . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Making comparisons with adverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

MAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182

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Preface

This Teacher’s Guide is intended as a practical aid to teachers. In it, you will find notes on
the content of each unit, suggestions for exercises and classroom activities, and answers to
the exercises.
General teaching information can be found in the Introduction. It includes
• the rationale and general aims of Basic English Grammar.
• classroom techniques for presenting charts and using exercises.
• suggestions for using the Workbook in connection with the student book.
• supplementary resource texts.
• comments on differences between American and British English.
• a key to the pronunciation symbols used in this Guide.
The rest of the Guide contains notes on charts and exercises. The chart notes may include
• suggestions for presenting the information to students.

• points to emphasize.
• common problems to anticipate.
• assumptions underlying the contents.
• additional background notes on grammar and usage.
The exercise notes may include
• the focus of the exercise.
• suggested techniques.
• points to emphasize.
• expansion activities.
• answers.
• item notes on cultural content, vocabulary, and idiomatic usage. (Some of these
item notes are specifically intended to aid teachers who are nonnative speakers of
English.)

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Introduction

General Aims of Basic English Grammar
Basic English Grammar is a beginning-level ESL/EFL developmental skills text. In the
experience of many classroom teachers, adult language learners like to spend at least some
time on grammar with a teacher to help them. The process of looking at and practicing
grammar becomes a springboard for expanding the learners’ abilities in speaking, writing,
listening, and reading.
Most students find it helpful to have special time set aside in their English curriculum
to focus on grammar. Students generally have many questions about English grammar and
appreciate the opportunity to work with a text and a teacher to make some sense out of the
bewildering array of forms and usages in this strange language. These understandings
provide the basis for advances in usage ability in a relaxed, accepting classroom that
encourages risk-taking as students experiment, both in speaking and writing, with ways to
communicate their ideas in a new language.
Teaching grammar does not mean lecturing on grammatical patterns and terminology.
It does not mean bestowing knowledge and being an arbiter of correctness. Teaching
grammar is the art of helping students make sense, little by little, of a huge, puzzling
construct, and of engaging them in various activities that enhance usage abilities in all skill
areas and promote easy, confident communication.
The text depends upon a partnership with a teacher; it is the teacher who animates and
directs the students’ language-learning experiences. In practical terms, the aim of the text is
to support you, the teacher, by providing a wealth and variety of material for you to adapt to
your individual teaching situation. Using grammar as a base to promote overall English
usage ability, teacher and text can engage students in interesting discourse, challenge their
minds and skills, and intrigue them with the power of language as well as the need for

accuracy to create understanding among people.

Suggestions for the Classroom
• Presenting the Grammar Charts

Each chart contains a concise visual presentation of the structures to be learned.
Presentation techniques often depend upon the content of the chart, the level of the class,
and students’ learning styles. Not all students react to the charts in the same way. Some
students need the security of thoroughly understanding a chart before trying to use the
structure. Others like to experiment more freely with using new structures; they refer to the
charts only incidentally, if at all.
Given these different learning strategies, you should vary your presentation techniques
and not expect students to “learn” or memorize the charts. The charts are simply a starting
point (and a point of reference) for class activities. Some charts may require particular
methods of presentation, but generally any of the following techniques are viable.

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Technique #1: Present the examples in the chart, perhaps highlighting them on the
board. Add your own examples, relating them to your students’
experience as much as possible. For example, when presenting simple

present tense, talk about what students do every day: come to school,
study English, and so on. Elicit other examples of the target structure
from your students. Then proceed to the exercises.
Technique #2: Elicit target structures from students before they look at the chart in the
Student Book. Ask leading questions that are designed so the answers
will include the target structure. (For example, with present progressive,
ask: “What are you doing right now?”) You may want to write students’
answers on the board and relate them to selected examples in the chart.
Then proceed to the exercises.
Technique #3: Instead of beginning with a chart, begin with the first exercise after the
chart. As you work through it with your students, present the
information in the chart or refer to examples in the chart.
Technique #4: Assign a chart for homework; students bring questions to class. (You
may even want to include an accompanying exercise.) With advanced
students, you might not need to deal with every chart and exercise
thoroughly in class. With intermediate students, it is generally advisable
to clarify charts and do most of the exercises in each section.
Technique #5: Some charts have a preview exercise or pretest. Begin with these, and
use them as a guide to decide what areas to focus on. When working
through the chart, you can refer to the examples in these exercises.
With all of the above, the explanations on the right side of the chart are most effective
when recast by the teacher, not read word for word. Keep the discussion focus on the
examples. Students by and large learn from examples and lots of practice, not from
explanations. In the charts, the explanations focus attention on what students should be
noticing in the examples and the exercises.

• Additional Suggestions for Using the Charts

The Here-and-Now Classroom Context
For every chart, try to relate the target structure to an immediate classroom or real-life

context. Make up or elicit examples that use the students’ names, activities, and interests.
For example, when introducing possessive adjectives (Chart 2-5) use yourself and your
students to present all the sentences in the chart. Then have students refer to the chart.
The here-and-now classroom context is, of course, one of the grammar teacher’s best aids.
Demonstration Techniques
Demonstration can be very helpful to explain the meaning of a structure. You and your
students can act out situations that demonstrate the target structure. For example, the
present progressive can easily be demonstrated (e.g., “I am writing on the board right
now”). Of course, not all grammar lends itself to this technique.
Using the Board
In discussing the target structure of a chart, use the classroom board whenever possible.
Not all students have adequate listening skills for teacher talk, and not all students can
visualize and understand the various relationships within, between, and among structures.
Draw boxes, circles, and arrows to illustrate connections between the elements of a
structure. A visual presentation helps many students.

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Oral Exercises with Chart Presentations
Oral exercises usually follow a chart, but sometimes they precede it so that you can elicit
student-generated examples of the target structure as a springboard to the discussion of the

grammar. If you prefer to introduce a particular structure to your students orally, you can
always use an oral exercise prior to the presentation of a chart and its written exercises, no
matter what the given order in the text.
The Role of Terminology
Students need to understand the terminology, but don’t require or expect detailed
definitions of terms, either in class discussion or on tests. Terminology is just a tool, a
useful label for the moment, so that you and your students can talk to each other about
English grammar.

• Balancing Teacher and Student Talk

The goal of all language learning is to understand and communicate. The teacher’s main
task is to direct and facilitate that process. The learner is an active participant, not merely a
passive receiver of rules to be memorized. Therefore, many of the exercises in the text are
designed to promote interaction between learners as a bridge to real communication.
The teacher has a crucial leadership role, with teacher talk a valuable and necessary part
of a grammar classroom. Sometimes you will need to spend time clarifying the information
in a chart, leading an exercise, answering questions about exercise items, or explaining an
assignment. These periods of teacher talk should, however, be balanced by longer periods
of productive learning activity when the students are doing most of the talking. It is
important for the teacher to know when to step back and let students lead. Interactive
group and pairwork play an important role in the language classroom.

• Exercise Types

Preview Exercises (SEE Exercise 2, p. 2 and Exercise 1, p. 179.)
The purpose of these exercises is to let students discover what they know and don’t know
about the target structure in order to get them interested in a chart. Essentially, preview
exercises illustrate a possible teaching technique: quiz students first as a springboard for
presenting the grammar in a chart.

Any exercise can be used as a preview. You do not need to follow the order of material
in the text. Adapt the material to your own needs and techniques.
First Exercise after a Chart (SEE Exercise 14, p. 33 and Exercise 16, p. 63.)
In most cases, this exercise includes an example of each item shown in the chart. Students
can do the exercise together as a class, and the teacher can refer to chart examples where
necessary. More advanced classes can complete it as homework. The teacher can use this
exercise as a guide to see how well students understand the basics of the target structure(s).
Written Exercises: General Techniques
The written exercises range from those that are tightly controlled and manipulative to those
that encourage free responses and require creative, independent language use. Following
are some general techniques for the written exercises.
Technique A: A student can be asked to read an item aloud. You can say whether the
student’s answer is correct or not, or you can open up discussion by
asking the rest of the class if the answer is correct. For example:
TEACHER:

Juan, would you please read item 3?
Ali speaks Arabic.
TEACHER (to the class): Do the rest of you agree with Juan’s answer?
STUDENT:

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The slow-moving pace of this method is beneficial for discussion not
only of grammar items, but also of vocabulary and content. Students
have time to digest information and ask questions. You have the
opportunity to judge how well they understand the grammar. However,
this time-consuming technique doesn’t always, or even usually, need to
be used, especially with more advanced classes.
Technique B: The teacher reads the first part of the item, then pauses for students to
call out the answer in unison. For example:
ITEM

entry: “Ali (speak) _____ Arabic.”

TEACHER (with the students looking at their texts):
STUDENTS (in unison):

Ali . . . .
speaks (with possibly a few incorrect responses
scattered about)

TEACHER:

. . . speaks Arabic. Speaks. Do you have any questions?

This technique saves a lot of time in class, but is also slow-paced
enough to allow for questions and discussion of grammar, vocabulary,
and content. It is essential that students have prepared the exercise by
writing in their books, so it must be assigned ahead of time as homework.
Technique C: Students complete the exercise for homework, and you go over the

answers with them. Students can take turns giving the answers, or you
can supply them. Depending on the importance and length of the
sentence, you may want to include the entire sentence or just the answer.
Answers can be given one at a time while you take questions, or you can
give the answers to the whole exercise before opening it up for questions.
When a student supplies the answers, the other students can ask him/her
questions if they disagree.
Technique D: Divide the class into groups (or pairs) and have each group prepare one
set of answers that they all agree is correct prior to class discussion. The
leader of each group can present its answers.
Another option is to have the groups (or pairs) hand in their sets of
answers for correction and possibly a grade.
It’s also possible to turn these exercises into games wherein the
group with the best set of answers gets some sort of reward (perhaps
applause from the rest of the class).
One option for correction of group work is to circle or mark the
errors on one paper the group turns in, make photocopies of that paper
for each member of the group, and then hand back the papers for
students to rewrite individually. At that point, you can assign a grade if
desired.
Of course, you can always mix Techniques A, B, C, and D — with students reading
some aloud, with you prompting unison responses for some, with you simply giving the
answers for others, or with students collaborating on the answers. Much depends on the
level of the class, their familiarity and skill with the grammar at hand, their oral-aural skills
in general, and the flexibility or limitations of class time.
Technique E: When an exercise item has a dialogue between two speakers, A and B
(e.g., Exercise 32, p. 78), ask one student to be A and another B and have
them read the entry aloud. Then, occasionally, say to A and B: “Without
looking at your text, what did you just say to each other?” (If necessary,
let them glance briefly at their texts before they repeat what they’ve just

said in the exercise item.) Students may be pleasantly surprised by their
own fluency.

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Technique F: Some exercises ask students to change the form but not the substance, or
to combine two sentences or ideas. Generally, these exercises are
intended for class discussion of the form and meaning of a structure.
The initial stages of such exercises are a good opportunity to use the
board to draw circles and arrows to illustrate the characteristics and
relationships of a structure. Students can read their answers aloud to
initiate class discussion, and you can write on the board as problems
arise. Or, students can write their sentences on the board themselves.
Another option is to have them work in small groups to agree upon their
answers prior to class discussion.
• OPEN-ENDED EXERCISES

The term “open-ended” refers to those exercises in which students use their own words to
complete the sentences, either orally or in writing.
Technique A: Exercises where students must supply their own words to complete a
sentence (e.g., Exercise 23, p. 341) should usually be assigned for out-ofclass preparation. Then in class, one, two, or several students can read

their sentences aloud; the class can discuss the correctness and
appropriateness of the completions. Perhaps you can suggest possible
ways of rephrasing to make a sentence more idiomatic. Students who
don’t read their sentences aloud can revise their own completions based
on what is being discussed in class. At the end of the exercise discussion,
you can tell students to hand in their sentences for you to look at, or
simply ask if anybody has questions about the exercise and not have them
submit anything to you.
Technique B: If you wish to use a completion exercise in class without having
previously assigned it, you can turn the exercise into a brainstorming
session in which students try out several completions to see if they work.
As another possibility, you may wish to divide the class into small groups
and have each group come up with completions that they all agree are
correct and appropriate. Then use only those completions for class
discussion or as written work to be handed in.
Technique C: Some completion exercises are done on another piece of paper because
not enough space has been left in the Student Book (e.g., Exercise 45,
p. 155). It is often beneficial to use the following progression: (1) assign
the exercise for out-of-class preparation; (2) discuss it in class the next
day, having students make corrections on their own papers based on what
they are learning from discussing other students’ completions; (3) then
ask students to submit their papers to you, either as a requirement or on
a volunteer basis.
• PARAGRAPH PRACTICE (SEE Exercise 36, p. 82.)

Some writing exercises are designed to produce short, informal paragraphs. Generally, the
topics concern aspects of the students’ lives to encourage free and relatively effortless
communication as they practice their writing skills. While a course in English rhetoric is
beyond the scope of this text, many of the basic elements are included and may be
developed and emphasized according to your needs.

For best results, whenever you give a writing assignment, let your students know what
you expect: “This is what I suggest as content. This is how you might organize it. This is
how long I expect it to be.” If at all possible, give your students composition models,

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perhaps taken from good compositions written by previous classes, perhaps written by you,
perhaps composed as a group activity by the class as a whole (e.g., you write on the board
what students tell you to write, and then you and your students revise it together).
In general, writing exercises should be done outside of class. All of us need time to
consider and revise when we write. And if we get a little help here and there, that’s not
unusual. The topics in the exercises are structured so that plagiarism should not be a
problem. Use in-class writing if you want to appraise the students’ unaided, spontaneous
writing skills. Tell your students that these writing exercises are simply for practice and
that — even though they should always try to do their best — mistakes that occur should be
viewed simply as tools for learning.
Encourage students to use a basic dictionary whenever they write. Point out that you
yourself never write seriously without a dictionary at hand. Discuss the use of margins,
indentation of paragraphs, and other aspects of the format of a well-written paper.
• ERROR-ANALYSIS EXERCISES

For the most part, the sentences in this type of exercise have been adapted from actual
student writing and contain typical errors. Error-analysis exercises focus on the target
structures of a chapter but may also contain miscellaneous errors that are common in
student writing at this level (e.g., final -s on plural nouns or capitalization of proper nouns).
The purpose of including them is to sharpen the students’ self-monitoring skills.
Error-analysis exercises are challenging, fun, and a good way to summarize the
grammar in a unit. If you wish, tell students they are either newspaper editors or English
teachers; their task is to locate all the mistakes and then write corrections. Point out that
even native speakers — including you yourself — have to scrutinize, correct, and revise their
own writing. This is a natural part of the writing process.
The recommended technique is to assign an error-analysis exercise for in-class
discussion the next day. Students benefit most from having the opportunity to find the
errors themselves prior to class discussion. These exercises can, of course, be handled in
other ways: seatwork, written homework, group work, or pairwork.

“Let’s Talk” Exercises

The third edition of Basic English Grammar has many more exercises explicitly set up for
interactive work than the last edition had. Students work in pairs, in groups, or as a class.
Interactive exercises may take more class time than they would if teacher-led, but it is time
well spent, for there are many advantages to student-student practice.
When students are working in groups or pairs, their opportunities to use what they are
learning are greatly increased. In interactive work, the time students have for using English
is many times greater than in a teacher-centered activity. Obviously, students working in
groups or pairs are often much more active and involved than in teacher-led exercises.
Groups and pairwork also expand student opportunities to practice many
communication skills at the same time that they are practicing target structures. In peer
interaction in the classroom, students have to agree, disagree, continue a conversation, make
suggestions, promote cooperation, make requests, and be sensitive to each other’s needs and
personalities — the kinds of exchanges that are characteristic of any group communication,

whether in the classroom or elsewhere.
Students will often help and explain things to each other during pairwork, in which case
both students benefit greatly. Ideally, students in interactive activities are “partners in
exploration.” Together they go into new areas and discover things about English usage,
supporting each other as they proceed.
Groups and pairwork help to produce a comfortable learning environment. In teachercentered activities, students may sometimes feel shy and inhibited or may experience stress.

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They may feel that they have to respond quickly and accurately and that what they say is not
as important as how they say it. When you set up groups or pairs that are non-competitive
and cooperative, students usually tend to help, encourage, and even joke with one another.
This encourages them to experiment with the language and to speak more often.
• PAIRWORK EXERCISES

Tell the student whose book is open that s/he is the teacher and needs to listen carefully to
the other’s responses. Vary the ways in which students are paired up, ranging from having
them choose their own partners, counting off, or drawing names or numbers from a hat.
Walk around the room and answer questions as needed.
• SMALL GROUP EXERCISES

The role of group leader can be rotated for long exercises, or one student can lead the entire
exercise if it is short. The group can answer individually or chorally, depending on the type
of exercise. Vary the ways in which you divide the class into groups and choose leaders. If
possible, groups of 3–5 students work best.
• CLASS ACTIVITY EXERCISES (teacher-led)

The teacher conducts the oral exercise. (You can also lead an oral exercise when the
directions call for something else; exercise directions calling for pairwork or group work are
suggestions, not ironclad instructions.) You don’t have to read the items aloud as though
reading a script word for word. Modify or add items spontaneously as they occur to you.
Change the items in any way you can to make them more relevant to your students. (For
example, if you know that some students plan to watch the World Cup soccer match on TV
soon, include a sentence about that.) Omit irrelevant items.
Sometimes an item will start a spontaneous discussion of, for example, local restaurants
or current movies or certain experiences your students have had. These spur-of-themoment dialogues are very beneficial to your class. Being able to create and encourage
such interactions is one of the chief advantages of a teacher leading an oral exercise.

Listening Exercises

Two audio CDs can be found at the back of Basic English Grammar. There are 86 listening
exercises in the text, all marked with a headphone icon. They reinforce the grammar being
taught — some focusing on form, some on meaning, most on both.
You will find an audio tracking script on p. 500 to help you locate a particular exercise
on the CD. The scripts for all the exercises are also in the back of Basic English Grammar,
beginning on p. 489.
Depending on your students’ listening proficiency, some of the exercises may prove to
be easy and some more challenging. You will need to gauge how many times to replay a
particular item. In general, unless the exercise consists of single sentences, you will want to
play the dialogue or passage in its entirety to give your students the context. Then you can
replay the audio to have your students complete the task.

It is very important that grammar students be exposed to listening practice early on.
Native speech can be daunting to new learners; many say that all they hear is a blur of
words. Students need to understand that what they see in writing is not exactly what they
may hear in normal, rapidly spoken English. If students can’t hear a structure, there is little
chance it will be reinforced through interactions with other speakers. The sooner your
students practice grammar from a listening perspective, the more confidence they will
develop and the better equipped they will be to interact in English.

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Pronunciation Exercises

A few exercises focus on pronunciation of grammatical features, such as endings on nouns
or verbs and contracted or reduced forms.
Some phonetic symbols are used in these exercises to point out sounds which should
not be pronounced identically; for example, /s/, /əz/, and /z/ represent the three predictable
pronunciations of the grammatical suffix which is spelled -s or -es. It is not necessary for
students to learn a complete phonetic alphabet; they should merely associate each symbol in
an exercise with a sound that is different from all others. The purpose is to help students
become more aware of these final sounds in the English they hear to encourage proficiency
in their own speaking and writing.

In the exercises on spoken contractions, the primary emphasis should be on students’
hearing and becoming familiar with spoken forms rather than on their accurate
pronunciation of these forms. The most important part of most of these exercises is for
students to listen to the oral production and become familiar with the reduced forms. At a
beginning level, it can sound strange for students to try to pronounce reduced forms
because of their lack of experience with English.
Language learners know that their pronunciation is not like that of native English
speakers; therefore, some of them are embarrassed or shy about speaking. In a
pronunciation exercise, they may be more comfortable if you ask groups or the whole class
to say a sentence in unison. After that, individuals may volunteer to speak the same
sentence. Students’ production does not need to be perfect, just understandable. You can
encourage students to be less inhibited by having them teach you how to pronounce words
in their languages (unless, of course, you’re a native speaker of the students’ language in a
monolingual class). It’s fun — and instructive — for students to teach the teacher.

Games and Activities

Games and activities are important parts of the grammar classroom. The study of grammar
is (and should be) fun and engaging. Some exercises in the text and in this Teacher’s Guide
are designated “expansion” or “activity.” They are meant to promote independent, active
use of target structures.
If a game is suggested, the atmosphere should be relaxed and not necessarily competitive.
The goal is clearly related to the chapter’s content, and the reward is the students’ satisfaction
in using English to achieve that goal. (For additional games and activities, see Fun with
Grammar: Communicative Activities for the Azar Grammar Series by Suzanne W.Woodward,
available as a photocopiable book from Longman — 877-202-4572 — or as downloads from
www.longman.com).

• Monitoring Errors in Oral Work

Students should be encouraged to monitor each other to some extent in interactive work,
especially when monitoring activities are specifically assigned. (Perhaps you should remind
them to give some positive as well as corrective comments to each other.) You shouldn’t
worry about losing control of students’ language production; not every mistake needs to be
corrected. Mistakes are a natural part of learning a new language. As students gain
experience and familiarity with a structure, their mistakes will begin to diminish.
Students shouldn’t worry that they will learn one another’s mistakes. Being exposed to
imperfect English in an interactive classroom is not going to impede their progress in the
slightest. In today’s world, with so many people using English as a second language,
students will likely be exposed to all levels of English proficiency in people they meet —

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from airline reservation clerks to new neighbors from a different country to a co-worker
whose native language is not English. Encountering imperfect English is not going to
diminish their own English language abilities, either now in the classroom or later in
different English-speaking situations.
Make yourself available to answer questions about correct answers during group work
and pairwork. If you wish, you can take some time at the end of an exercise to call attention
to mistakes that you heard as you monitored the groups. Another possible way of correcting
errors is to have students use the answer key in the back of the book to look up their own

answers when they need to. If your edition of BEG, third edition, doesn’t include the
answer key, you can make student copies of the answers from the separate Answer Key
booklet.

• Homework

The student book assumes that students will have the opportunity to prepare most of the
written exercises by writing in their books prior to class discussion. Students should be
assigned this homework as a matter of course.
Whether you have students write their answers on paper for you to collect is up to you.
This generally depends upon such variables as class size, class level, available class time,
your available paper-correcting time, not to mention your preferences in teaching
techniques. Most of the exercises in the text can be handled through class discussion
without the students’ needing to hand in written homework. Most of the written homework
that is suggested in the text and in the chapter notes in this Teacher’s Guide consists of
activities that will produce original, independent writing.
Although it’s better to assign exercises for out-of-class preparation, it’s sometimes
necessary to cover an exercise in class. In “seatwork,” you ask students to do an unassigned
exercise in class immediately before discussing it. Seatwork may be done individually, in
pairs, or in groups.

The Workbook As Independent Study
Earnest students can use the Workbook to teach themselves. It contains self-study exercises
for independent study, with a perforated answer key located at the end of the book.
Encourage your students to remove this answer key and put it in a folder. It’s much easier
for students to correct their own answers if they make their own booklet.
If you prefer that students not have the answers to the exercises, ask them to hand in the
answer key at the beginning of the term (to be returned at the end of the term). Some
teachers may prefer to use the Workbook for in-class teaching rather than independent study.
The Workbook mirrors the student book. Exercises are called “exercises” in the Student

Book and “practices” in the Workbook to minimize confusion when you make assignments.
Each practice in the Workbook has a content title and refers students to appropriate charts in
the Student Book and in the Workbook itself.
Workbook practices can be assigned by you or, depending upon the level of maturity or
sense of purpose of the class, simply left for students to use as they wish. They may be
assigned to the entire class or only to those students who need further practice with a
particular structure. They may be used as reinforcement after you have covered a chart and
exercises in class or as introductory material prior to discussing a chart.
In addition, students can use the Workbook to acquaint themselves with the grammar of
any units not covered in class.

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Supplementary Resource Texts
Two teacher resource texts are available. One is Fun with Grammar: Communicative
Activities for the Azar Grammar Series by Suzanne W. Woodward, available as a photocopiable
book from Longman (877-202-4572) or as downloads from www.longman.com. The text
contains games and other language-learning activities compiled by the author from her and
other teachers’ experience in using the Azar texts in their classrooms.
The other is Test Bank for Basic English Grammar by Janis van Zante. The tests are
keyed to charts or chapters in the Student Book. They can be reproduced, or items can be

excerpted for tests that teachers prepare themselves. The Test Bank will be available on CD
in the fall of 2006.
As another resource, the Grammar Exchange at the Azar Web site
(www.longman.com/grammarexchange) is a place to ask questions you might have about
grammar (sometimes our students ask real stumpers). It is also a place to communicate
with the authors about the text and to offer teaching/exercise suggestions.

Notes on American vs. British English
Students are often curious about differences between American and British English. They
should know that the differences are minor. Any students who have studied British English
(BrE) should have no trouble adapting to American English (AmE), and vice-versa.
Teachers need to be careful not to inadvertently mark differences between AmE and BrE
as errors; rather, they should simply point out to students that a difference in usage exists.

• Differences in Grammar

Differences in article and preposition usage in certain common expressions follow. These
differences are not noted in the text; they are given here for the teacher’s information.
AmE
be in the hospital
be at the university (be in college)
go to a university (go to college)
go to Ø class/be in Ø class
in the future
did it the next day
haven’t done something for/in weeks
ten minutes past/after six o’clock
five minutes to/of/till seven o’clock

BrE

be in Ø hospital
be at Ø university
go to Ø university
go to a class/be in a class
in Ø future (OR in the future)
did it Ø next day (OR the next day)
haven’t done something for weeks
ten minutes past six o’clock
five minutes to seven o’clock

• Differences in Spelling

Variant spellings can be noted but should not be marked as incorrect in student writing.
Spelling differences in some common words follow.
AmE
jewelry, traveler, woolen
skillful, fulfill, installment
color, honor, labor, odor
-ize (realize, apologize)
analyze

xx INTRODUCTION

BrE
jewellry, traveller, woollen
skilful, fulfil, instalment
colour, honour, labour, odour
-ise/ize (realise/realize, apologise/apologize)
analyse

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defense, offense, license
theater, center, liter
check
curb
forever
focused
fueled
jail
practice (n. and v.)
program
specialty
story
tire

defence, offence, licence (n.)
theatre, centre, litre
cheque (bank note)
kerb
for ever/forever
focused/focussed
fuelled/fueled

gaol
practise (v.); practice (n. only)
programme
speciality
storey (of a building)
tyre

• Differences in Vocabulary

Differences in vocabulary usage between AmE and BrE usually do not significantly interfere
with communication, but some misunderstandings may develop. For example, a BrE
speaker is referring to underpants or panties when using the word “pants,” whereas an AmE
speaker is referring to slacks or trousers. Students should know that when American and
British speakers read each other’s literature, they encounter very few differences in
vocabulary usage. Similarly, in the United States, Southerners and New Englanders use
different vocabulary but not so much as to interfere with communication. Some differences
between AmE and BrE follow.
AmE
attorney, lawyer
bathrobe
can (of beans)
cookie, cracker
corn
diaper
driver’s license
drug store
elevator
eraser
flashlight
gas, gasoline

hood of a car
living room
math
raise in salary
rest room
schedule
sidewalk
sink
soccer
stove
truck
trunk (of a car)
be on vacation

BrE
barrister, solicitor
dressing gown
tin (of beans)
biscuit
maize
nappy
driving licence
chemist’s
lift
rubber
torch
petrol
bonnet of a car
sitting room, drawing room
maths (e.g., a maths teacher)

rise in salary
public toilet,WC (water closet)
timetable
pavement, footpath
basin
football
cooker
lorry, van
boot (of a car)
be on holiday

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Key to Pronunciation Symbols
• The Phonetic Alphabet (Symbols for American English)
CONSONANTS

Phonetic symbols for most consonants use the same letters as in conventional
English spelling: /b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, v, w, y, z/.*
Spelling consonants that are not used phonetically in English: c, q, x.
A few additional symbols are needed for other consonant sounds.

/ ␪ / (Greek theta) ϭ voiceless th as in thin, thank
/ ð / (Greek delta) ϭ voiced th as in then, those
/ / ϭ ng as in sing, think (but not in danger)
/ / ϭ sh as in shirt, mission, nation
/ / ϭ s or z in a few words like pleasure, azure
/ / ϭ ch or tch as in watch, church
/ / ϭ j or dge as in jump, ledge
VOWELS

The five vowels in the spelling alphabet are inadequate to represent the 12–15 vowel sounds
of American speech. Therefore, new symbols and new sound associations for familiar
letters must be adopted.
Front
/i/ or /iy/ as in beat
/I/ as in bit
/e/ or /ey/ as in bait

Central

/ε/ as in bet
/æ/ as in bat

/ə/ as in but
/a/ as in bother

Back (lips rounded)
/u/, /u:/, or /uw/ as in boot
/υ/ as in book
/o/ or /ow/ as in boat
/ɔ/ as in bought

Glides: /ai/ or /ay/ as in bite
/ɔi/ or /ɔy/ as in boy
/au/ or /aw/ as in about
British English has a somewhat different set of vowel sounds and symbols. You might
want to consult a standard pronunciation text or BrE dictionary for that system.

*Slanted lines indicate phonetic symbols.

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CHAPTER

1

Using Be

Overview
This chapter presents very simple sentences for near-beginners. The assumption is that all
students of this textbook can read words in English and that the teacher can both model and
monitor good spoken and written English.

The purpose of the lessons in Chapter 1 is to give learners basic phrases for exchanging
information with other speakers of English. Thus, they begin by getting acquainted with each
other. Then the text presents simple statements of definition and description and introduces a
basic vocabulary of nouns and adjectives. Negative verb phrases and contractions are also
presented early so that learners get plenty of practice with them throughout the course. A few
prepositions of place are also illustrated and practiced.
For general teaching suggestions and techniques, see the Introduction to this Teacher’s Guide.

□ EXERCISE 1, p. 1.

Let’s talk: class activity.

This introductory exercise is designed as an ice-breaker for the first day of class. It shows
learners how be is used in simple questions and answers while giving them an opportunity
to get acquainted with classmates.
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS: Model the activity by choosing one student as your partner.
Ask the two questions in the illustration on page 1 of the text; then, have the student ask
you those two questions.

Introduce the student to the class, saying, “This is ( . . . )” or “I would like you to meet
( . . . ).” Write the student’s name and country on the board. Ask that student to do the
same, introducing you to the class and writing your name and country on the board.
Choose another student and model the pattern again, if necessary, until you are sure the
class understands what they are supposed to do.
Divide the students into pairs and ask them to find out his/her partner’s name and
country of origin. The students should write this information down. Ask the students in
turn to write their partner’s name and country on the board as they orally introduce this
person to the class.
If you are teaching a multicultural class, mix nationalities in the pairs. If you are
teaching a monolingual class, ask one student in each pair to find out the other student’s

hometown or address instead of country of origin.
Encourage incidental communication and interaction; brief conversations may arise in
their interviews. Spell names aloud to review the spoken alphabet.

1


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CHART 1-1: NOUN ϩ IS ϩ NOUN: SINGULAR
• Chart 1-1 introduces some basic vocabulary for discussing grammar: singular, noun, verb, article,
consonant, vowel. These terms are used frequently throughout the text, and students will become
familiar with them very quickly. Give these terms attention when you discuss the chart with your
students. See p. xi of this Teacher’s Guide for suggestions on different ways of presenting charts in
class.
• To convey the concept of what a noun is, you may ask students to name things and people in
the classroom: floor, door, desk, man, woman, etc.
• In this lesson, names such as Canada and Mexico are called singular nouns because they
require singular verb forms. Perhaps point out in Exercises 3 and 4 that names of people, places,
and languages (i.e., proper nouns) are capitalized.
• Many languages do not use a verb where English requires a form of be, so a common error in
spontaneous student usage of the grammar in the first eight charts of this chapter is omission of
be (e.g., *I a student. or *She not in class today.).
•

WORKBOOK:

For additional exercises based on Chart 1-1, see Workbook Practices 1–3.

□ EXERCISE 2, p. 2.

Preview: listening.

See p. xvii of this Teacher’s Guide for suggestions on how to best use the listening exercises
and audio CDs in the back of the student book.
This exercise has been designed as a diagnostic tool to see how advanced your class is.
Beginning students sometimes feel they have been placed too low, and this exercise is meant
to challenge those students.
ANSWERS: 2. is a
3. They’re in
7. They’re happy
8. is
9. isn’t
□ EXERCISE 3, p. 2.

4. is an
5. It’s
10. She’s

6. aren’t

Sentence practice. (Chart 1-1)

Students practice indefinite articles as a step along the way to producing the sentence

pattern in Chart 1-1. The main focus of the first half of this chapter is sentence patterns
with be.
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS: After you discuss the chart with the class, give your students
a few minutes to complete the exercise by themselves. Students can read their answers
aloud while you point out the sentence structure as you go through the exercise.

Or, since the sentences are short, they could be written on the board by students. That
would give you nine sentences to use as additional examples of the pattern in Chart 1-1.
You could go through each one, pointing out nouns and articles and the position of is.
Alternatively, students may be more comfortable if they answer together rather than as
individuals. You might proceed like this:
TEACHER:
CLASS:
TEACHER:
CLASS:
TEACHER:
CLASS:

2 CHAPTER 1

Look at the example. (pause) We use a with horse, not an.
What letter does horse begin with?
“H.”
Is “h” a vowel or a consonant?
A consonant.
Why do we use a, not an, in front of horse?
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TEACHER:
CLASS:
TEACHER:
CLASS:
TEACHER:

Yes, we use a in front of horse because a is used in front of a consonant.
Then we say an animal. Why?
Animal begins with a vowel.
Right! Now, look at sentence number 2. (pause)
Everybody, say this sentence now.
English is a language.
Yes —a language. English is a language. Great!

Etc.
You may have to spend some time reviewing the alphabet and distinguishing between
vowels and consonants.
Try to help learners understand new vocabulary words without the use of a dictionary.
Some of the difficult vocabulary is illustrated ( bee, bear, ant). This vocabulary is recycled in
subsequent exercises. You may have to explain some of the other vocabulary in this exercise
(for example, by drawing a horse, or by using or drawing maps).
A large map of the world would be helpful for this and following exercises. There is a
map of the world at the back of this Teacher’s Guide, pp. 180-181, that you can photocopy if

a wall map is not readily available. Also, there is a picture of a horse on p. 93 of the student
book. Note that giving students page numbers to look at is a way of reviewing and
practicing numbers.
EXPANSION: After you finish going through the exercise, have students close their
books. Then, using a few of the items in this exercise, write sentences on the board that
contain errors and ask the class to correct them; e.g., write *English is language. or *A bee is
a insect. or *Korea a country is. You may want to include errors in capitalization.

ANSWERS: 2. English is a language.
3. Tokyo is a city.
4. Australia is a
country.
5. Red is a color.
6. A dictionary is a book.
7. A hotel is a building.
8. A bear is an animal.
9. A bee is an insect.
10. An ant is an insect.
□ EXERCISE 4, p. 3.

Sentence practice. (Chart 1-1)

Again, a map would be helpful for this exercise.
TEACHING SUGGESTION: Pronounce the words in the box and have the class repeat
them. Everyone can read the first three sentences in chorus; then, either the whole class or
individuals can call out the rest.

It’s not necessary for students to write every answer in their books; some students will
put their pens aside and simply join in orally, but others will insist on writing every answer
completely and correctly. Learning styles differ.

ANSWERS: 4. Tennis is a sport.
5. Chicago is a city.
6. Spanish is a language.
7. Mexico is a country.
8. A cow is an animal.
9. A fly is an insect.
10. Baseball is a sport.
11. China is a country.
12. Russian is a language.
□ EXERCISE 5, p. 4.

Let’s talk: small groups. (Chart 1-1)

This exercise gives students a chance to use their own knowledge to complete the sentences.
Help them with pronunciation, and congratulate them on their answers.
TEACHING SUGGESTION: Divide the students into small groups. Choose one group
and have them model the example. After students finish the exercise, ask for different
completions from a number of students. This is an exercise that allows the more advanced
students to display their abilities and vocabularies. If a student uses a word that most of the
rest of the class is unfamiliar with, ask that student to locate the place on a map or draw the
animal or insect.

Using Be 3